Eugene Emeralds defeat Spokane 4-0 to move one game away from NWL championship

Steve Mims @SteveMims_RG

Tuesday

Sep 11, 2018 at 12:01 AMSep 12, 2018 at 10:57 AM

The Emeralds defeat Spokane 4-0 on Monday to move one game away from NWL championship

Every coach, no matter the sport, recites a cliche about “peaking at the right time”.

So Steve Lerud, how are your Eugene Emeralds doing?

“This is the best we’ve pitched all year, the best we’ve played defense, and scoring enough to win,” he said. “If you are going to win four in a row, this is the right time for it to happen.”

Three Eugene pitchers combined on a four-hit shutout as the Emeralds defeated Spokane 4-0 in the second game of the Northwest League championship series Monday night in front of 1,131 at PK Park. The Ems have a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-five series and need to win one of the next three nights at home to capture the championship.

“We’re excited and we plan on going out there and doing the same thing again,” said Eugene catcher Caleb Knight, who was 2-for-4 with two doubles and a run scored. “Take the same approach on offense and play defense and pitch like we have.”

Eugene has allowed five earned runs in four playoff games, including 20 scoreless innings from the bullpen.

“Credit to our pitchers for throwing up donuts for nine innings,” second baseman Levi Jordan said. “The last four games, they have been stellar. They hold it to a reasonable score and we keep getting big innings.’

The big inning came right away as Eugene scored three runs in the top of the first as the visiting team in its home park because Spokane is unable to play at Avista Stadium due to the county fair.

Nelson Velazquez singled and Luke Reynolds walked before Jordan hit a two-run double. Grant Fennell followed with a two-out single that scored Jordan.

“It is strange playing on the road in Eugene, but good to score a couple runs in the first,” Jordan said. “We got a couple runners on and got big hits.”

The Ems made it 4-0 in the seventh when Knight led off with a double and reached third on a passed ball. Andy Weber hit a sacrifice fly that scored Knight.

Eugene starter Jack Patterson allowed three hits in four innings before Eugenio Palma allowed one hit in three innings. Sean Barry earned the save with two perfect innings as Eugene relievers combined to retire the final 13 Indians.

Eugene had the worst record in the league at 31-45 during the regular season, but has won all four games in the postseason.

“Baseball is all about who gets hot at the right time,” Knight said. “We are hot and rolling now so we are ready to go.”

The playoffs looked out of reach for much of the season, but Eugene went 17-21 in the second half to claim the second spot out of the South Division. The Emeralds swept South champion Hillsboro in the opening round before following up with two wins over Spokane for a season-high four wins in a row.

“Playing the end of the year the way we did, it took those last few wins to get us in this situation and that has helped us now,” Lerud said. “We have been playing playoff baseball for three weeks trying to stay in this thing and we are catching momentum now. We still have one more to go.”

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